Whoomp! There it is... [PREMIUM, The Athletic]

[FayetteDore]

Rexrode: Vanderbilt left behind? It’s unthinkable, except it’s college football

The key takeaway: "NFL Campus North" and "NFL Campus South," loosely built around the Big Ten and the SEC, sans some of their financial under-performers. The article's narrative is driven by an unnamed TV executive. (It's ALWAYS about TV money.)

[BrentVU]

The thesis of this article is that in an era where it's all about money, the TV networks might (someday, in the who knows how distant future) decide to form a mega-TV league in which the traditional non-performers (like Vanderbilt) get booted. (We're in a new era, so anything's possible.)

I’m fascinated by what Clark Lea is trying to do with Vanderbilt football, and I think his third team — which opens the season Saturday against Hawaii amid construction around the stadium — is going to look like a legitimate SEC football team. That’s not easy to do. Modern history tells us there’s a cap on how far Lea can take it.

But having an opportunity to produce excellence where it isn’t expected, against folks who are expected to dominate you — as Stanford, Northwestern and TCU have done, among others — is a driving force in this sport. Imagine having that opportunity ripped away. Consider how many people will lose interest in college football. If you’re just going to become NFL Campus, you’ll be compared more closely to the NFL, and you’ll suffer by comparison.

It can’t happen. It might happen. I didn’t put much stock in that before recent events, because university presidents have always liked their talking points. Vanderbilt is a wonderful talking point. But so were things such as “student-athlete welfare” and “associations of like-minded institutions,” not long ago.

Fiddle-faddle. It's just something for Joe to fill column space with. No one (surprise!) wants to talk on the record about this, or even IS talking about this.

[AuricGoldfinger]

This is what I've been saying for a while now. Technically, VU won't ever be "asked" to leave the SEC. It would be a bad look and few university presidents would approve of it, knowing they could be next. What's more likely to occur is what Joe more ore less outlines:

* Vandy is either left behind (just as Stanford was two weeks ago) as a new television-fathered super conference is birthed, or...
* The school's share of SEC television revenue is cut because the more successful programs in the SEC demand more money, or...
* ESPN/Fox/Apple/Netflix/YouTube, etc. go to Birmingham and say they are going to pay less for Vanderbilt games and more for Alabama, et al.

None of this is going to happen tomorrow, and who knows what the media and sports landscape is like when the next TV contracts are being negotiated, but it's bleak to ponder.

[FayetteDore]

Totally agree: it's late-summer Tuesday column fodder. (Not belittling Mr. Rexrode here; this is what columns are for.) Another excerpt:

How about SEC commissioner Greg Sankey putting his name on it right now? “Not on my watch,” Sankey could say of this preposterous idea of leaving behind the best institution in the best city in the SEC, an athletic department with a national championship baseball program, strong tradition in basketball and excellence in many sports.

Sankey declined to comment on the idea of Vanderbilt being left behind through a spokesman, not wishing to delve into hypotheticals. This did not surprise me, and I wouldn’t take it as confirmation that he has the NFL Campus South roster on a dry-erase board in his office. Also, there’s a decent chance this takes enough time to materialize that it isn’t on his watch.


Fully understand not wishing to delve into hypotheticals ... but a "Not on my watch!" declaration would have been nice.

[dore74]

I thought the article was well done. Clearly, no conclusions could be reached, but folks its certainly out there.

The football team getting to at least .500 year in year out and basketball going to the NCAA's at the same pace are VU's best bet for staying with the "big boys". On the other hand why should VU sponsor a minor league NFL team--particularly if the paid professionals might not even need to be full time students? Time will tell...

[Dorewithaflare]

I am hoping for big run, but I remember those UNLV type loses. I hate to say it but I think we miss the big plays by Davis and Mike Wright.

[Johnmn555]

The SEC and Big 10 already have mega TV leagues, and I don't see a lot of advantages for either in merging them into one.

We've already looked at the politics and vote required to boot Vandy from the SEC, and after careful analysis, most everyone agreed it isn't going to happen.

Big boys in the two mega leagues looking to take a bigger cut and take some away from the lesser lights is more of a possibility.

Overall interest in college football may wane, because outside the two mega conferences, no one cares about conference championships anymore, the teams are not in the hunt for the national championship, and many of the rivalry games are no longer played.

[alathIN]

College football's intense appeal was built on people going to games in real life. Tailgating. Marching bands. Homecoming. People went to the games as kids, then as students, then as parents of kids and parents of students. Demented traditions with 100 year old traditions like The Oaken Bucket and The Egg Bowl. Roasting. Freezing. Screaming until you're hoarse. Getting botulism from improperly stored hot dogs.

Yes, the networks and the leagues and ultimately the schools and coaches and even the players can make more money when the game is a fungible broadcast entertainment commodity. But after a while people aren't going to care as much. You don't get a whole parking lot full of million dollar motor coaches painted in the theme of a TV show. College football fandom is historically- well, fanatical. People say things like "that whole family bleeds baize and blue" (or hypothetically, black and gold). Nobody is ever said to bleed the colors of a TV show logo.
Right now they're taking that rabid fandom and monetizing it. But I don't think the next generation's blood will turn their school's colors from watching games on TV. The kids who grow up in a world where college football is a TV show aren't going to travel 10 hours to away games in motor coaches painted orange and blue and covered with giant alligators.